Podcast appearances and mentions of Christopher Marlowe

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original textsThe History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story.We begin the last section of the book - or:  The third and last of Doctor Faustus his merry conceits, showing after what sort he practised Necromancy in the Courts of great Princes, and lastly of his fearful and pitiful end. Chapter Twenty-Nine: How the Emperor Carolus Quintus requested of Faustus to see some of his cunning, whereunto he agreed. Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.Thunder sfx thanks to zapsplat.comOur patrons received this episode in January 2024 - 18 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.orgYou can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQThe Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg's edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan's edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam.Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama. 

Today's guest, Caro Pirri, is the author of Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form in Early Modern England: Stages of Unsettlement (Oxford University Press, 2025). This book explores how early modern colonial travel writing informed the London theater's spatial and placemaking conventions. It suggests that what the stage found most compelling about narratives of colonial settlement was their failure to claim interpretive control over unfamiliar places and people. The book goes on to link colonial misreadings of places and people to theatrical strategies for staging disorientation, which Pirri characterizes as a condition of “unsettlement.” Each chapter focuses on a specific formal device that emerged from colonial misreadings: “uncommonplacing” in Richard Hakluyt's travel compendium; metonymic possession in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine; “seasoning” in Ben Jonson's city comedies; “stagewreck” in Shakespeare's The Tempest; and “stagework” in the Lord Mayor's Shows. By approaching form as an interpretive process that is always engaged in the act of making and being made, Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form offers a model for reading past the seeming impasses of colonial narratives. It shows how narratives of failed settlement served as a productive resources for the formal worldmaking conventions of early modern theater. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Today's guest, Caro Pirri, is the author of Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form in Early Modern England: Stages of Unsettlement (Oxford University Press, 2025). This book explores how early modern colonial travel writing informed the London theater's spatial and placemaking conventions. It suggests that what the stage found most compelling about narratives of colonial settlement was their failure to claim interpretive control over unfamiliar places and people. The book goes on to link colonial misreadings of places and people to theatrical strategies for staging disorientation, which Pirri characterizes as a condition of “unsettlement.” Each chapter focuses on a specific formal device that emerged from colonial misreadings: “uncommonplacing” in Richard Hakluyt's travel compendium; metonymic possession in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine; “seasoning” in Ben Jonson's city comedies; “stagewreck” in Shakespeare's The Tempest; and “stagework” in the Lord Mayor's Shows. By approaching form as an interpretive process that is always engaged in the act of making and being made, Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form offers a model for reading past the seeming impasses of colonial narratives. It shows how narratives of failed settlement served as a productive resources for the formal worldmaking conventions of early modern theater. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Today's guest, Caro Pirri, is the author of Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form in Early Modern England: Stages of Unsettlement (Oxford University Press, 2025). This book explores how early modern colonial travel writing informed the London theater's spatial and placemaking conventions. It suggests that what the stage found most compelling about narratives of colonial settlement was their failure to claim interpretive control over unfamiliar places and people. The book goes on to link colonial misreadings of places and people to theatrical strategies for staging disorientation, which Pirri characterizes as a condition of “unsettlement.” Each chapter focuses on a specific formal device that emerged from colonial misreadings: “uncommonplacing” in Richard Hakluyt's travel compendium; metonymic possession in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine; “seasoning” in Ben Jonson's city comedies; “stagewreck” in Shakespeare's The Tempest; and “stagework” in the Lord Mayor's Shows. By approaching form as an interpretive process that is always engaged in the act of making and being made, Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form offers a model for reading past the seeming impasses of colonial narratives. It shows how narratives of failed settlement served as a productive resources for the formal worldmaking conventions of early modern theater. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

Today's guest, Caro Pirri, is the author of Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form in Early Modern England: Stages of Unsettlement (Oxford University Press, 2025). This book explores how early modern colonial travel writing informed the London theater's spatial and placemaking conventions. It suggests that what the stage found most compelling about narratives of colonial settlement was their failure to claim interpretive control over unfamiliar places and people. The book goes on to link colonial misreadings of places and people to theatrical strategies for staging disorientation, which Pirri characterizes as a condition of “unsettlement.” Each chapter focuses on a specific formal device that emerged from colonial misreadings: “uncommonplacing” in Richard Hakluyt's travel compendium; metonymic possession in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine; “seasoning” in Ben Jonson's city comedies; “stagewreck” in Shakespeare's The Tempest; and “stagework” in the Lord Mayor's Shows. By approaching form as an interpretive process that is always engaged in the act of making and being made, Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form offers a model for reading past the seeming impasses of colonial narratives. It shows how narratives of failed settlement served as a productive resources for the formal worldmaking conventions of early modern theater. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's guest, Caro Pirri, is the author of Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form in Early Modern England: Stages of Unsettlement (Oxford University Press, 2025). This book explores how early modern colonial travel writing informed the London theater's spatial and placemaking conventions. It suggests that what the stage found most compelling about narratives of colonial settlement was their failure to claim interpretive control over unfamiliar places and people. The book goes on to link colonial misreadings of places and people to theatrical strategies for staging disorientation, which Pirri characterizes as a condition of “unsettlement.” Each chapter focuses on a specific formal device that emerged from colonial misreadings: “uncommonplacing” in Richard Hakluyt's travel compendium; metonymic possession in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine; “seasoning” in Ben Jonson's city comedies; “stagewreck” in Shakespeare's The Tempest; and “stagework” in the Lord Mayor's Shows. By approaching form as an interpretive process that is always engaged in the act of making and being made, Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form offers a model for reading past the seeming impasses of colonial narratives. It shows how narratives of failed settlement served as a productive resources for the formal worldmaking conventions of early modern theater. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

Today's guest, Caro Pirri, is the author of Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form in Early Modern England: Stages of Unsettlement (Oxford University Press, 2025). This book explores how early modern colonial travel writing informed the London theater's spatial and placemaking conventions. It suggests that what the stage found most compelling about narratives of colonial settlement was their failure to claim interpretive control over unfamiliar places and people. The book goes on to link colonial misreadings of places and people to theatrical strategies for staging disorientation, which Pirri characterizes as a condition of “unsettlement.” Each chapter focuses on a specific formal device that emerged from colonial misreadings: “uncommonplacing” in Richard Hakluyt's travel compendium; metonymic possession in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine; “seasoning” in Ben Jonson's city comedies; “stagewreck” in Shakespeare's The Tempest; and “stagework” in the Lord Mayor's Shows. By approaching form as an interpretive process that is always engaged in the act of making and being made, Colonial Failure and Theatrical Form offers a model for reading past the seeming impasses of colonial narratives. It shows how narratives of failed settlement served as a productive resources for the formal worldmaking conventions of early modern theater. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance.

Stephen Greenblatt nimmt seine Leser:innen mit in eine Zeit, in der die englische Literatur und das Theater neu erfunden wurden: "Dunkle Renaissace" erzählt das Leben von Christopher Marlowe, Autor, Spion und Rivale Shakespeares. Von Denis Scheck.

Es war ein Leben im Ausnahmezustand. Wie Christopher Marlowe die Konventionen sprengte und die Literatur revolutionierte, davon schreibt der Literaturwissenschaftler Stephen Greenblatt in der Biografie "Dunkle Renaissance".

In this episode we unpack part 1 of Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...This book explores...* The consequences of endless striving*The tension between higher and lower level desires * The temptation of evilHost: Zach Stehura  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠UnpackingIdeas.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Guest: Philip KubasovIntro Music: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Polyenso⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free PDF of the book: ⁠Faust part 1 David Luke translationResources MentionedCritique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant (book)The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (book)Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (book/play)The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler (book)

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story.Chapter Twenty-Eight: Faustus was asked a question concerning thunder. Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.Thunder sfx thanks to zapsplat.comOur patrons received this episode in December 2024 - approx. 18 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.orgYou can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQThe Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg's edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan's edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam.Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama. 

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 12, 2026 is: fulcrum • FULL-krum • noun In technical use, fulcrum refers to the support on which a lever moves when it is used to lift something. In figurative use, fulcrum refers to a person or thing that makes it possible for something to function or develop, or in other words, one who plays an essential role in something. // Although the lead actor was phenomenal, critics suggested that the supporting cast was the real fulcrum of the show. See the entry > Examples: “The moral fulcrum of Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, in which a scholar gains knowledge and power through a demonic pact, is a relatively straightforward statement on the human condition.” — Eric Olson, Literary Hub, 14 Jan. 2026 Did you know? The Latin word fulcrum, which refers to the head or back support of a couch, comes from the verb fulcīre, which means “to prop, support.” When fulcrum was first used in English in the 17th century, it referred to the point on which a lever or similar device (such as the oar of a boat) is supported. The literal use easily supported figurative use, and it didn't take long for the word to develop a meaning referring to one deemed essential to the function or development of something. Despite fulcrum's multiple senses, the word's meanings have kept a steady theme. In zoology, fulcrum refers to a part of an animal that serves as a hinge or support, such as the joint supporting a bird's wing.

William Shakespeare stands as one of history's greatest writers and most enduring cultural icons. His timeless works have inspired, moved, and mystified audiences for over 400 years. Yet behind the legendary name lies a profound enigma: we know remarkably little about the man from Stratford-upon-Avon. How could a provincial actor with limited formal education produce some of the most sophisticated literature ever written—works rich in aristocratic insight, legal knowledge, classical learning, and intimate details of court life?In this captivating episode, we dive deep into the Shakespeare Authorship Question, exploring the compelling possibility that the plays and poems attributed to Shakespeare were actually written by someone else—a hidden genius who used the name as a front. Could this be one of literature's greatest conspiracies?We are thrilled to welcome Katherine Chiljan, acclaimed author of Shakespeare Suppressed: The Uncensored Truth About Shakespeare and His Works. A UCLA graduate and dedicated independent researcher, Chiljan spent years examining historical records to challenge the traditional narrative. Her book presents meticulously documented evidence questioning the Stratford man's authorship and sheds new light on the true origins of these masterpieces.Joining us is our co-host, Mark Eddy, a passionate researcher in alternative history who has devoted extensive time to investigating the Shakespeare conspiracy theories. Together with our guests, we examine the leading alternative candidates—such as Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, Francis Bacon, and Christopher Marlowe—along with the historical, textual, and biographical clues that fuel this fascinating debate.Prepare to challenge everything you thought you knew. This episode will rewrite the history books, ignite fresh perspectives, and reveal why the alternative theories often feel more plausible than the official story. Open your mind to a literary mystery that continues to intrigue scholars, historians, and truth-seekers alike.Whether you're a longtime Shakespeare enthusiast or new to the authorship debate, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Tune in, question the legend, and discover the hidden truths behind the Bard's immortal words.https://shakespearesuppressed.com/about-the-author/Gear up and get freaky with official Let's Get Freaky merchandise! Our spooky-cool collection features hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, stickers, and more—perfect for showing your love of the paranormal while staying comfy and stylish. Dive into the full range now: https://tee.pub/lic/wX4lEJj3DMIGot a mind-blowing paranormal encounter, cryptid sighting, UFO experience, or any high-strangeness story that still gives you chills? We want to hear it—and we want YOU on the show! Become a guest on Let's Get Freaky and share your true story with our growing freaky community. Drop us a line at: letsgetfreakypodcast@mail.com Or slide into our DMs on socials: Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, or YouTube → @tcletsgetfreakypodcast.

Antitheatrical writers in early modern England compared the actor's transformation into a character to a kind of illicit magic. In response, playwrights like William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson created a body of plays that treated the conjuror's circle as a mirror of the theater. This episode brings you a story of magicians, witches, and the spectacles they conjured: the story of magic on the early modern English stage.Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.Episode sourcesSupport the showEnchantedPodcast.netBluesky/enchantedpodcast.net

Christopher Marlowe is one of the most fascinating—and mysterious—figures of Shakespeare's lifetime. A university-educated playwright at a time when that alone set him apart, Marlowe rose quickly through London's theater world, dazzling audiences with bold language, ambitious characters, and stories that pushed the boundaries of what the stage could do.  But Marlowe's life wasn't confined to poetry and playhouses. Evidence suggests he was also moving in far more dangerous circles—working as a government agent in the shadowy world of Elizabethan espionage, where loyalty, religion, and politics were matters of life and death.  And then, just as suddenly as he rose to fame, his life came to a violent end—killed in a Deptford lodging house under circumstances that remain deeply suspicious. Officially, it was a dispute over a bill. But for a man entangled in secrets, intrigue, and power, that explanation has never quite been wholly satisfying, nor completely accepted.   Today, we're diving deep into the underworld to look inside the extraordinary life and abrupt death of Christopher Marlowe—from the university halls of Cambridge to the murky underworld of espionage, and onto the stages that helped shape the future of English drama.  Our guest is Stephen Greenblatt, author of Dark Renaissance a book that portrays Marlowe as the father of Renaissance theater and as innovative as he was intriguing. Stephen's work brings together history, literature, and the hidden forces that shaped the Renaissance world Marlowe inhabited, and we're delighted to have him be our guide this week as we step into the brilliant, dangerous, and ultimately tragic life of Christopher Marlowe. 

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story.Chapter Twenty-Seven: How Doctor Faustus was asked a question concerning the Stars that fall from heaven.Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.Thunder sfx thanks to zapsplat.comOur patrons received this episode in November 2024 - approx. 18 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.orgYou can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQThe Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg's edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan's edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam.Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

During the Cold War, hearings led by U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy soon turned into a witch hunt, as paranoia and political opportunism destroyed the careers (and lives) of actors, directors, singers, filmmakers, writers, and prominent scientists who were accused of disloyalty, subversion, and treason. But even as the accusers cited poems, plays, novels, and song lyrics to bolster their attack, literature mounted a counteroffensive, striking back at the powerful in what Marjorie Garber has termed "poetic revenge." In this episode, Jacke talks to Garber about her book A Treacherous Secret Agent: How Literature Spoke Truth to Power During the Red Scare about the long reach of authors like William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, John Donne, and others, whose works exposed the lies and hypocrisies of one of America's darkest periods. PLUS Jacke takes a look at Arthur Miller's late-in-life reflections on his own work of poetic revenge, the great anti-McCarthyist play The Crucible. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Help support the show at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/literature⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Is he a Communist?” During a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing in 1938, Congressman Joe Starnes probed into the politics of a writer produced by the Federal Theatre Project. The playwright in question? Christopher Marlowe. While Starnes's blunder became legendary, Shakespeare and his contemporaries continued to come up throughout the Red Scare years. Something about early modern poetry and plays often rang as disquietingly topical. In her book, A Treacherous Secret Agent: How Literature Spoke Truth to Power During the Red Scare, Marjorie Garber reveals how literature has always posed a threat to authority, a power of which Shakespeare was well aware. As she puts it, “poetry makes trouble all the time.” This episode explores how Shakespeare became a magnet for suspicion during the Red Scare—and how he spoke to the moment from beyond the grave. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published May 5, 2026. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. Technical support was provided by Philip Bodger in Lewes, England and Voice Trax West in Studio City, California. Web production was handled by Megan Fraedrich. Transcripts are edited by Leonor Fernandez. Final mixing services provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc. Marjorie Garber is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Research Professor of English and of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University. She is the author of twenty books, including Shakespeare in Bloomsbury and A Treacherous Secret Agent: How Literature Spoke Truth to Power During the Red Scare. She lives in London, UK. Learn more about Marjorie Garber and her work at her website.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story.Chapter Twenty-Six: How Faustus was asked a question concerning the Spirits that vex men. Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.Thunder sfx thanks to zapsplat.comOur patrons received this episode in October 2024 - approx. 18 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.orgYou can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQThe Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg's edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan's edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam.Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama. 

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! In this episode, we argue that Miranda Priestly isn't actually the devil. With the help of the greatest play ever written, Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, we're taking a closer look at The Devil Wears Prada to better understand the movie's classic villain, as well as that strangely hopeful ending. LINKS: Patreon, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram Feedback & Theories: secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com

In this week's episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of the University of Arkansas and Center for Strong Public Schools' Alisha Searcy speak with Stephen Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and one of the world's foremost scholars of Renaissance literature. Greenblatt discusses his acclaimed book, Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous […]

In this week's episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Prof. Albert Cheng of the University of Arkansas and Center for Strong Public Schools' Alisha Searcy speak with Stephen Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and one of the world's foremost scholars of Renaissance literature. Greenblatt discusses his acclaimed book, Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival, and explores the remarkable life, work, and legacy of Christopher Marlowe. He explains how Marlowe, the son of a cobbler from Canterbury, rose through England's demanding classical education system to become one of the boldest playwrights of the Elizabethan era. Prof. Greenblatt examines the political and cultural climate of Elizabethan England, shaped by censorship, religious conflict, and surveillance, and how those pressures influenced Marlowe's daring artistic voice. Greenblatt also unpacks enduring mysteries surrounding Marlowe's life, including theories that he served as a secret agent for Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster. He also discusses Marlowe's landmark plays Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus, his celebrated poetry, and the dramatic innovations that transformed English theater. Additionally, he also reflects on Marlowe's rivalry with Shakespeare, mysterious death, and enduring influence on literature today. In closing, Prof. Greenblatt reads a passage from his book, Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival.

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original texts The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story.Chapter Twenty-Five:  A question put forth to Doctor Faustus concerning the stars. Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.Thunder sfx thanks to zapsplat.comOur patrons received this episode in October 2024 - approx. 18 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.orgYou can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQThe Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton. About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg's edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan's edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam.Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Building on our discussion of the Water Margin (the most important surviving versions dating to the 1590s), we go “back”—notice the scare quotes!—to what is usually at least passively assumed to be the source of the culture of capitalist modernity, merry aul England. What we will find, of course, is that we need to re-orient our view of the birth of modern capitalism along the lines long established by world historians like Janet Abu-Lughod, Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin, Emmanuel Wallerstein, Giovanni Arrighi, et al, because Europe was in fact a late-comer to industrial modernity, borrowing all the basic innovations necessary for capitalism from the Afro-Asiatic silk road powers: the Muslim world, India, and China. The same is true for the cultural superstructure of capitalism, as all the core elements of modern, novelistic, secular modernity can also be found first in Afro-Asiatic forms like the Arabic Maqama, the Arabian Nights, the vernacular epics of early modern India, and the Ming Dynasty novel. It was from here that “modern consciousness” spread to the North Mediterranean, and from there to the imaginary homeland of chivalry in the mind of a nascent “Europe”, Britannia. This time we outline the basic activities and characteristics of several lesser-known English writers of the 1590s, all of whom played important roles in the rise of state pageantry, venture capitalism, and intelligence agencies in that storied isle: this time we mainly discuss Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Nashe, and Anthony Munday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How far would you go to achieve your deepest dreams? That's the question author Karl Ove Knausgård explores in his latest novel, The School of Night. Internationally acclaimed and award-winning Norwegian author Knausgård is known for blending everyday characters with transcendent perceptions of reality, and this new installment of The Morning Star series continues this thread while examining the power of human ambition. Set in 1985 London, a city rife with possibility and desire, Knausgård's story follows Kristian Hadeland, a young photographer who believes his art is destined for greatness. His family, however, never understood him, and his fellow photography students bore him. When he meets Hans, an eccentric Dutch artist, the future he yearns for is possible—as long as he is willing to sacrifice everything and stop at nothing. Twenty-four years later, Kristian sees his dreams come true. A major retrospective of his work is held in New York City. Yet his past catches up to him, and Kristian's world begins to crumble. Success comes at a price, but is he prepared to pay it? In a twist on Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, Karl Ove Knausgård questions what we will do to achieve success—and how far we are willing to fall. The fourth novel in The Morning Star series that collides the ordinary with the extraordinary, The School of Night is a tale about dark temptations and moral depravity, and what we forget when we bargain with the devil. Karl Ove Knausgård's first novel, Out of the World, was the first ever debut novel to win the Norwegian Critics' Prize, and his second, A Time for Everything, was longlisted for the 2010 International Dublin Literary Award. The My Struggle cycle of novels has been heralded as a masterpiece wherever it has appeared. His work is published in thirty-five languages. Knausgaard's newest novel, The School of Night, will be published by Penguin Press in January 2026. Elizabeth DeNoma wears a number of hats within the publishing world. She's a translator from Scandinavia languages (whose most recent work is SNOW: A History by Sverker Sörlin), a ghostwriter and developmental editor, as well as a literary agent at the boutique international agency of Sebes, Bisseling, and Kleuver. Buy the Book The School of Night: A Novel Third Place Books

Jeopardy! recaps from the week of March 23rd, 2026. We celebrate big-sibling energy, imagine nanny vs. gladiator contests, and Emily gives a deep dive about Christopher Marlowe(sp?). Find us on Facebook (Potent Podables). Check out our Patreon (patreon.com/potentpodables). Email us at potentpodablescast@gmail.com. Continue to support social justice movements in your community and our world. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/  www.rescue.org  www.therebelsproject.org www.abortionfunds.org  https://wck.org/  https://www.pcrf.net/   https://www.givedirectly.org/ 

Today's guest, John Kuhn, is the author of Making Pagans: Theatrical Practice and Comparative Religion in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024). Making Pagans argues that drama played a powerful role in the articulation of religious difference in the seventeenth century. Examining the common scenes of pagan ritual that filled England's seventeenth-century stages—magical conjurations, oracular prophecies, barbaric triumphal parades, and group suicides—Kuhn traces these tropes across dozens of plays, from a range of authors including Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, John Dryden, and Philip Massinger. Tracing connections between the history of stagecraft and ethnological disciplines such as ethnography, antiquarianism, and early comparative religious writing, Kuhn shows how early modern repertory systems that leaned heavily on thrift and reuse produced an enduring theatrical vocabulary for understanding religious difference through the representation of paganism—a key term in the new taxonomy of world religions emerging at this time, and a frequent subject and motif in English drama of the era.Drawing together theater history, Atlantic studies, and the history of comparative religion, Making Pagans reconceptualizes the material and iterative practices of the theater as central to the construction of radical religious difference in early modernity and of the category of paganism as a tool of European self-definition and colonial ambition. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Today's guest, John Kuhn, is the author of Making Pagans: Theatrical Practice and Comparative Religion in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024). Making Pagans argues that drama played a powerful role in the articulation of religious difference in the seventeenth century. Examining the common scenes of pagan ritual that filled England's seventeenth-century stages—magical conjurations, oracular prophecies, barbaric triumphal parades, and group suicides—Kuhn traces these tropes across dozens of plays, from a range of authors including Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, John Dryden, and Philip Massinger. Tracing connections between the history of stagecraft and ethnological disciplines such as ethnography, antiquarianism, and early comparative religious writing, Kuhn shows how early modern repertory systems that leaned heavily on thrift and reuse produced an enduring theatrical vocabulary for understanding religious difference through the representation of paganism—a key term in the new taxonomy of world religions emerging at this time, and a frequent subject and motif in English drama of the era.Drawing together theater history, Atlantic studies, and the history of comparative religion, Making Pagans reconceptualizes the material and iterative practices of the theater as central to the construction of radical religious difference in early modernity and of the category of paganism as a tool of European self-definition and colonial ambition. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

Today's guest, John Kuhn, is the author of Making Pagans: Theatrical Practice and Comparative Religion in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024). Making Pagans argues that drama played a powerful role in the articulation of religious difference in the seventeenth century. Examining the common scenes of pagan ritual that filled England's seventeenth-century stages—magical conjurations, oracular prophecies, barbaric triumphal parades, and group suicides—Kuhn traces these tropes across dozens of plays, from a range of authors including Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, John Dryden, and Philip Massinger. Tracing connections between the history of stagecraft and ethnological disciplines such as ethnography, antiquarianism, and early comparative religious writing, Kuhn shows how early modern repertory systems that leaned heavily on thrift and reuse produced an enduring theatrical vocabulary for understanding religious difference through the representation of paganism—a key term in the new taxonomy of world religions emerging at this time, and a frequent subject and motif in English drama of the era.Drawing together theater history, Atlantic studies, and the history of comparative religion, Making Pagans reconceptualizes the material and iterative practices of the theater as central to the construction of radical religious difference in early modernity and of the category of paganism as a tool of European self-definition and colonial ambition. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/performing-arts

Today's guest, John Kuhn, is the author of Making Pagans: Theatrical Practice and Comparative Religion in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024). Making Pagans argues that drama played a powerful role in the articulation of religious difference in the seventeenth century. Examining the common scenes of pagan ritual that filled England's seventeenth-century stages—magical conjurations, oracular prophecies, barbaric triumphal parades, and group suicides—Kuhn traces these tropes across dozens of plays, from a range of authors including Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, John Dryden, and Philip Massinger. Tracing connections between the history of stagecraft and ethnological disciplines such as ethnography, antiquarianism, and early comparative religious writing, Kuhn shows how early modern repertory systems that leaned heavily on thrift and reuse produced an enduring theatrical vocabulary for understanding religious difference through the representation of paganism—a key term in the new taxonomy of world religions emerging at this time, and a frequent subject and motif in English drama of the era.Drawing together theater history, Atlantic studies, and the history of comparative religion, Making Pagans reconceptualizes the material and iterative practices of the theater as central to the construction of radical religious difference in early modernity and of the category of paganism as a tool of European self-definition and colonial ambition. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original textsThis is hot off the press this week, as it's a quick chat about an upcoming production of Edward II by Christopher Marlowe, performing at the Brockley Jack and produced by Alex Pearson Productions in association with Glass Splinters. This chat is with Natalie Harper and Alex Pearson.Tickets can be bought here! https://brockleyjack.co.uk/jackstudio-entry/edward-ii/Show info: "After the death of the King's father,  Gaveston is hastily summoned back from exile on the whim of the reckless new monarch, Edward II, to a claustrophobic court filled with increasing unrest, intrigue and perpetual distrust.Edward and  Gaveston's love is the catalyst that threatens not just to destroy Court life – but the very foundations of England itself.When you have no choice but to live under the relentless glare of the public eye, is it possible to keep any piece of yourself intact? Is love truly worth the risk?As royalty clashes with the nobility, all seems set to disintegrate, Edward II explores the conflict between personal desire, political duty and legacy.Alex Pearson Productions, in association with Glass Splinters, is thrilled to be bringing a fresh take on this classic tale of love, violence, and what it means to live a life under the spotlight.Alex Pearson Productions focuses on telling established stories in contemporary and intuitive ways; bringing classic tales to a modern-day audience that emphasises clear story-telling and making it accessible and enjoyable for all. APP is a company that strives for inclusivity and shredding new light on stories that have been forgotten, ignored or misrepresented."The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.orgYou can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQThe Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg's edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan's edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam.Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

Today's guest, John Kuhn, is the author of Making Pagans: Theatrical Practice and Comparative Religion in Early Modern England (U Pennsylvania Press, 2024). Making Pagans argues that drama played a powerful role in the articulation of religious difference in the seventeenth century. Examining the common scenes of pagan ritual that filled England's seventeenth-century stages—magical conjurations, oracular prophecies, barbaric triumphal parades, and group suicides—Kuhn traces these tropes across dozens of plays, from a range of authors including Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, John Dryden, and Philip Massinger. Tracing connections between the history of stagecraft and ethnological disciplines such as ethnography, antiquarianism, and early comparative religious writing, Kuhn shows how early modern repertory systems that leaned heavily on thrift and reuse produced an enduring theatrical vocabulary for understanding religious difference through the representation of paganism—a key term in the new taxonomy of world religions emerging at this time, and a frequent subject and motif in English drama of the era.Drawing together theater history, Atlantic studies, and the history of comparative religion, Making Pagans reconceptualizes the material and iterative practices of the theater as central to the construction of radical religious difference in early modernity and of the category of paganism as a tool of European self-definition and colonial ambition. Jane Hwang Degenhardt is Professor English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is the author of Globalizing Fortune on the Early Modern Stage (Oxford UP, 2022) and Islamic Conversion and Christian Resistance on the Early Modern Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2012). She is also a co-editor of the academic journal English Literary Renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original textsThe History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story.Chapter Twenty-Four: Of a certain comet that appeared in Germany, and how Doctor Faustus was desired by certain friends of his to know the meaning thereof. Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.Thunder sfx thanks to zapsplat.comOur patrons received this episode in October 2024 - approx. 17 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.orgYou can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQThe Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg's edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan's edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam.Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

8. Guest Author: James Shapiro James Shapiro recounts the 1938 congressional hearings where Hallie Flanagan defended the Federal Theater Project. In a famous exchange, a committee member questioned if Renaissance playwright Christopher Marlowe was a communist. Despite her defense, the project was eventually defunded, leading to a tragic decline in Flanagan's later life. Shapiro also debunks the legend of a "voodoo curse" supposedly placed on critic John Hammond, identifying it as a fabrication by Orson Welles and John Houseman. He concludes that the political tactics used against the arts in the 1930s remain a modern "playbook". (8)1931

Joined this week by historian Susan D. Amussen, we take a close look at the historical evidence that confirms William Shakespeare as a real working playwright and actor in early modern England. Drawing from Susan's book What's in a Name?, we explore the documentary records—from theater company memberships and tax records to property purchases—that trace Shakespeare's life from Stratford-upon-Avon to London's vibrant theatrical world. We also compare the surviving evidence for Shakespeare with what we know about other playwrights like Christopher Marlowe, and discuss how historians interpret the gaps in the historical record. Along the way, Susan explains what the archives reveal about Shakespeare's work with the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later the King's Men) and how these records help historians answer the enduring question: how do we know Shakespeare is Shakespeare?

Beyond is sponsored by The Malone Society: The permanent utility of original textsThe History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus, is the book that is the source for Christopher Marlowe's play. Chapter by chapter we will wander through the twists and turns of this story.This was a tricky episode to record, as I had made a decision to use a specific version of the text with very odd versions of place names - I lost all ability to say these places in any comprehensible way, but hopefully it isn't too weird.CW: Early modern racial languageChapter Twenty-Three: How Faustus had a sight of Paradise Our patrons also get an exploring session looking in detail at the text - join our chat here.Thunder sfx thanks to zapsplat.comOur patrons received this episode in September 2024 - approx. 17 months early. They have also already received the next 19 chapters and exploring sessions!The Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is supported by its patrons – become a patron and you get to choose the plays we work on next. Go to www.patreon.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/beyondshakespeare - or if you want to give us some feedback, email us at admin@beyondshakespeare.org, follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram @BeyondShakes or go to our website: https://beyondshakespeare.orgYou can also subscribe to our YouTube channel where (most of) our exploring sessions live - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLa4pXxGZFwTX4QSaB5XNdQThe Beyond Shakespeare Podcast is hosted and produced by Robert Crighton.About our sponsors - the Malone Society. The Society was founded in 1906 at the initiative of A.W. Pollard, and for over a century they have published (almost) every year edited volumes of early printed and manuscript texts of both well-known and neglected plays. They also publish collections of documentary material relating to the performance and reception of early drama. Their best-known publications include W.W. Greg's edition of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative history play, and A.C. Dunstan's edition of the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman, Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam.Their membership is international and open to anyone interested in early drama. Members receive their annual volumes and are able to buy books from their backlist at low prices.In addition to their publications, they support scholarship of early drama through fellowships and research grants, an annual prize for graduate students, and performances and symposia.The Society is named after Edmond Malone, born in Dublin in 1741, a great editor, textual scholar and theatre historian, whose work continues to shape studies in early drama.

====================================================SUSCRIBETEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpffyr-7_zP1x1lS89ByaQ?sub_confirmation=1==================================================== DEVOCIÓN MATUTINA PARA MENORES 2026“HEROES Y VILLANOS”Narrado por: Tatania DanielaDesde: Juliaca, PerúUna cortesía de DR'Ministries y Canaan Seventh-Day Adventist Church10 de FebreroEl héroe mecenas«Ahora, hermanos, queremos contarles cómo se ha mostrado la bondad de Dios en las iglesias de Macedonia. A pesar de las pruebas por las que han tenido que pasar, son muy felices; y a pesar de ser muy pobres, sus ofrendas han sido tan generosas como si fueran ricos» (2 Corintios 8: 1-2).Algunas especialidades, como el arte, estarían muertas de no ser por el generoso apoyo de otros. Históricamente, ese rol se lo debemos a Gayo Cilnio Mecenas (70 a. C. a 8 a. C.), un político y consejero del emperador Augusto en la antigua Roma.Mecenas desempeñó un papel importante en la política romana, actuando como consejero de Augusto y ayudando mantener la estabilidad del régimen. Fue también un hábil diplomático y negociador, y se le atribuye haber contribuido a la expansión del imperio romano a través de acuerdos políticos y alianzas. Mecenas es recordado como uno de los personajes más influyentes y emblemáticos de la época de Augusto, y su nombre se ha convertido en sinónimo de mecenazgo cultural y apoyo a las artes en la historia de Roma.Mecenas llegó a ser conocido por su generosidad y por ser un patrocinador de las artes y la literatura. Patrocinó a numerosos escritores, poetas y artistas de la época, entre ellos Virgilio, Horacio, Ovidio y Propercio, contribuyendo así al florecimiento cultural y artístico de Roma.Gracias a Mecenas, se creó un rol en la sociedad que se conoce precisamente por el nombre de este caballero: ser un mecenas. Un mecenas es una persona que brinda apoyo financiero y estímulo a diversos campos. La palabra mecenas ha llegado a significar «patrocinio» o «filantropía».Lorenzo de' Medici fue un influyente mecenas del Renacimiento italiano, conocido por su apoyo a artistas como Leonardo da Vinci, Miguel Ángel y Botticelli. La reina Isabel I de Inglaterra apoyó a artistas del campo de la literatura y del teatro, y a escritores como William Shakespeare y Christopher Marlowe. Johann Sebastian Bach contó con el apoyo del príncipe Leopold de Anhalt-Köthen y Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart tuvo apoyo del emperador José II de Austria y el barón Gottfried van Swieten.Cuando alguna causa digna requiere apoyo, los que tienen recursos e influencia pueden venir al rescate. Gracias a personas como ellas, otros han podido preservar su arte o sus ideas para beneficio de muchos. Aunque deseable, no necesitamos invertir recursos financieros cuando se trate de apoyar causas dignas. Será notable que haya proyectos u organizaciones cuyas metas son buenas y se verían ayudadas con lo que podamos dar o hacer. Si miramos a nuestro alrededor, no tardaremos mucho en hallar alguna de esas dignas causas. 

In this episode, we chat to celebrated crime writer Louise Welsh about her career and her latest novel The Cut Up. We discuss some of the most expensive books to be sold secondhand, and the death of playright Christopher Marlowe.

Vanessa returns with another surprise topic from literary history: Christopher Marlowe: Playwright, lover, thinker, spy (?). Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Check out Zero to Well-Read and its brand new companion newsletter, and follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Hero and Leander' was published in 1598, and anyone who came across it in a stationer's shop in Elizabethan London would have known that its author was dead, killed in a brawl in Deptford in 1593. Christopher Marlowe's sensational life as playwright and spy is matched by the wit, sophistication and eroticism of his eccentric retelling of Ovid's myth, based on a 6th-century version by Musaeus. Seamus and Mark begin their new series by looking at the playful but often troubling treatment of desire in a poem that contains one of the most explicit depictions of sex in English poetry. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applesignupnp Other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/scsignupnp Further reading in the LRB: Michael Dobson on the life of Marlowe https://lrb.me/np1marlowe1 Hilary Mantel on the murder of Marlowe: https://lrb.me/np1marlowe2 Charles Nicholl on Faustus: https://lrb.me/np1marlowe3

Was Christopher Marlowe a rebel, a genius, or a heretic ahead of his time? From his plays that shocked Elizabethan England to his brutal murder, Marlowe's short, dazzling life was defined by rivalry, scandals and secrets.Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Professor Stephen Greenblatt delve into Marlowe's provocative ideas, his rumoured queerness, and the dangerous brilliance that left an indelible mark on English literature.MOREMarlowe & Shakespeare: Rivals or Collaborators?Listen on AppleListen on SpotifyTudor True Crime: Murder of Christopher MarloweListen on AppleListen on SpotifyPresented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle. Edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcastSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 87 Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold Mark McGuinness reads and discusses ‘Dover Beach' by Matthew Arnold. https://media.blubrry.com/amouthfulofair/media.blubrry.com/amouthfulofair/content.blubrry.com/amouthfulofair/87_Dover_Beach_by_Matthew_Arnold.mp3 Poet Matthew Arnold Reading and commentary by Mark McGuinness Dover Beach By Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies fairUpon the straits; on the French coast the lightGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!Only, from the long line of sprayWhere the sea meets the moon-blanched land,Listen! you hear the grating roarOf pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,At their return, up the high strand,Begin, and cease, and then again begin,With tremulous cadence slow, and bringThe eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long agoHeard it on the Aegean, and it broughtInto his mind the turbid ebb and flowOf human misery; weFind also in the sound a thought,Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the full, and round earth's shoreLay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.But now I only hearIts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,Retreating, to the breathOf the night-wind, down the vast edges drearAnd naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another! for the world, which seemsTo lie before us like a land of dreams,So various, so beautiful, so new,Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;And we are here as on a darkling plainSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where ignorant armies clash by night. Podcast Transcript This is a magnificent and haunting poem by Matthew Arnold, an eminent Victorian poet. Written and published at the mid-point of the nineteenth century – it was probably written around 1851 and published in 1867 – it is not only a shining example of Victorian poetry at its best, but it also, and not coincidentally, embodies some of the central preoccupations of the Victorian age. The basic scenario is very simple: a man is looking out at the sea at night and thinking deep thoughts. It's something that we've all done, isn't it? The two tend to go hand-in-hand. When you're looking out into the darkness, listening to the sound of the sea, it's hard not to be thinking deep thoughts. If you've been a long time listener to this podcast, it may remind you of another poet who wrote about standing on the shore thinking deep thoughts, looking at the sea, Shakespeare, in his Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,So do our minutes hasten to their end; Arnold's poem is not a sonnet but a poem in four verse paragraphs. They're not stanzas, because they're not regular, but if you look at the text on the website, you can clearly see it's divided into four sections. The first part is a description of the sea, as seen from Dover Beach, which is on the shore of the narrowest part of the English channel, making it the closest part of England to France: The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies fairUpon the straits; – on the French coast the lightGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. And as you can hear, the poem has a pretty regular and conventional rhythm, based on iambic metre, ti TUM, with the second syllable taking the stress in every metrical unit. But what's slightly unusual is that the lines have varying lengths. By the time we get to the third line: Upon the straits; – on the French coast the light There are five beats. There's a bit of variation in the middle of the line, but it's very recognisable as classic iambic pentameter, which has a baseline pattern going ti TUM, ti TUM, ti TUM, ti TUM, ti TUM. But before we get to the pentameter, we get two short lines: The sea is calm tonight.Only three beats; andThe tide is full, the moon lies fair – four beats. We also start to notice the rhymes: ‘tonight' and ‘light'. And we have an absolutely delightful enjambment, where a phrase spills over the end of one line into the next one: On the French coast the light,Gleams and is gone. Isn't that just fantastic? The light flashes out like a little surprise at the start of the line, just as it's a little surprise for the speaker looking out to sea. OK, once he's set the scene, he makes an invitation: Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! So if there's a window, he must be in a room. There's somebody in the room with him, and given that it's night it could well be a bedroom. So this person could be a lover. It's quite likely that this poem was written on Arnold's honeymoon, which would obviously fit this scenario. But anyway, he's inviting this person to come to the window and listen. And what does this person hear? Well, helpfully, the speaker tells us: Listen! you hear the grating roarOf pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,At their return, up the high strand,Begin, and cease, and then again begin,With tremulous cadence slow, and bringThe eternal note of sadness in. Isn't that just great? The iambic metre is continuing with some more variations, which we needn't go into. And the rhyme is coming more and more to the fore. Just about every line in this section rhymes with another line, but it doesn't have a regular pattern. Some of the rhymes are close together, some are further apart. There's only one line in this paragraph that doesn't rhyme, and that's ‘Listen! You hear the grating roar'. If this kind of shifting rhyme pattern reminds you of something you've heard before, you may be thinking all the way back to Episode 34 where we looked at Coleridge's use of floating rhymes in his magical poem ‘Kubla Khan'. And it's pretty evident that Arnold is also casting a spell, in this case to mimic the rhythm of the waves coming in and going out, as they ‘Begin, and cease, and then again begin,'. And then the wonderful last line of the paragraph, as the waves ‘bring / The eternal note of sadness in'. You know, in the heart of the Victorian Age, when the Romantics were still within living memory, poets were still allowed to do that kind of thing. Try it nowadays of course, and the Poetry Police will be round to kick your front door in at 5am and arrest you. Anyway. The next paragraph is a bit of a jump cut: Sophocles long agoHeard it on the Aegean, and it broughtInto his mind the turbid ebb and flowOf human misery; So Arnold, a classical scholar, is letting us know he knows who Sophocles, the ancient Greek playwright was. And he's establishing a continuity across time of people looking out at the sea and thinking these deep thoughts. At this point, Arnold explicitly links the sea and the thinking:                                     weFind also in the sound a thought,Hearing it by this distant northern sea. And the thought that we hear when we listen to the waves is what Arnold announces in the next verse paragraph, and he announces it with capital letters: The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the full, and round earth's shoreLay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. And for a modern reader, I think this is the point of greatest peril for Arnold, where he's most at risk of losing us. We may be okay with ‘the eternal note of sadness', but as soon as he starts giving us the Sea of Faith, we start to brace ourselves. Is this going to turn into a horrible religious allegory, like The Pilgrim's Progress? I mean, it's a short step from the Sea of Faith to the Slough of Despond and the City of Destruction. And it doesn't help that Arnold uses the awkwardly rhyming phrase ‘a bright girdle furled' – that's not going to get past the Poetry Police, is it? But fear not; Arnold doesn't go there. What comes next is, I think, the best bit of the poem. So he says the Sea of Faith ‘was once, too, at the full', and then: But now I only hearIts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,Retreating, to the breathOf the night-wind, down the vast edges drearAnd naked shingles of the world. Well, if you thought the eternal note of sadness was great, this tops it! It's absolutely fantastic. That line, ‘Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,' where the ‘it' is faith, the Sea of Faith. And the significance of the line is underlined by the fact that the word ‘roar' is a repetition – remember, that one line in the first section that didn't rhyme? Listen! you hear the grating roar See what Arnold did there? He left that sound hovering at the back of the mind, without a rhyme, until it came back in this section, a subtle but unmistakeable link between the ‘grating roar' of the actual sea at Dover Beach, and the ‘withdrawing roar' of the Sea of Faith: Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Isn't that the most Victorian line ever? It encapsulates the despair that accompanied the crisis of faith in 19th century England. This crisis was triggered by the advance of modern science – including the discoveries of fossils, evidence of mass extinction of previous species, and the theory of evolution, with Darwin's Origin of Species published in 1859, in between the writing and publication of ‘Dover Beach'. Richard Holmes, in his wonderful new biography of the young Tennyson, compares this growing awareness of the nature of life on Earth to the modern anxiety over climate change. For the Victorians, he writes, it created a ‘deep and existential terror'. One thing that makes this passage so effective is that Arnold has already cast the spell in the first verse paragraph, hypnotising us with the rhythm and rhyme, and linking it to the movement of the waves. In the second paragraph, he says, ‘we find also in the sound a thought'. And then in the third paragraph, he tells us the thought. And the thought that he attaches to this movement, which we are by now emotionally invested in, is a thought of such horror and profundity – certainly for his Victorian readers – that the retreat of the sea of faith really does feel devastating. It leaves us gazing down at the naked shingles of the world. The speaker is now imaginatively out of the bedroom and down on the beach. This is very relatable; we've all stood on the beach and watched the waves withdrawing beneath our feet and the shingle being left there. It's an incredibly vivid evocation of a pretty abstract concept. Then, in the fourth and final verse paragraph, comes a bit of a surprise: Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another! Well, I for one was not expecting that! From existential despair to an appeal to his beloved. What a delightful, romantic (with a small ‘r') response to the big-picture, existential catastrophe. And for me, it's another little echo of Shakespeare's Sonnet 60, which opens with a poet contemplating the sea and the passing of time and feeling the temptation to despair, yet also ends with an appeal to the consolation of love: And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,blockquotePraising thy worth, despite his cruel hand. Turning back to Arnold. He says ‘let us be true / To one another'. And then he links their situation to the existential catastrophe, and says this is precisely why they should be true to each other: for the world, which seemsTo lie before us like a land of dreams,So various, so beautiful, so new,Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; It sounds, on the face of it, a pretty unlikely justification for being true to one another in a romantic sense. But actually, this is a very modern stance towards romantic love. It's like the gleam of light that just flashed across the Channel from France – the idea of you and me against an unfeeling world, of love as redemption, or at least consolation, in a meaningless universe. In a world with ‘neither joy, nor love, nor light,' our love becomes all the more poignant and important. Of course, we could easily object that, regardless of religious faith, the world does have joy and love and light. His very declaration of love is evidence of this. But let's face it, we don't always come to poets for logical consistency, do we? And we don't have to agree with Matthew Arnold to find this passage moving; most of us have felt like this at some time when we've looked at the world in what feels like the cold light of reality. He evokes it so vividly and dramatically that I, for one, am quite prepared to go with him on this. Then we get the final three lines of the poem:We are here as on a darkling plainSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where ignorant armies clash by night. I don't know about you, but I find this a little jarring in the light of what we've just heard. We've had the magnificent description of the sea and its effect on human thought, extending that into the idea of faith receding into illusion, and settling on human love as some kind of consolation for the loss of faith. So why do we need to be transported to a windswept plain where armies are clashing and struggling? It turns out to be another classical reference, to the Greek historian Thucydides' account of the night battle of Epipolae, where the two armies were running around in the dark and some of them ended up fighting their own side in the confusion. I mean, fine, he's a classical scholar. And obviously, it's deeply meaningful to him. But to me, this feels a little bit bolted on. A lot of people love that ending, but to me, it's is not as good as some of the earlier bits, or at least it doesn't quite feel all of a piece with the imagery of the sea. But overall, it is a magnificent poem, and this is a small quibble. Stepping back, I want to have another look at the poem's form, specifically the meter, and even more specifically, the irregularity of the meter, which is quite unusual and actually quite innovative for its time. As I've said, it's in iambic meter, but it's not strictly iambic pentameter. You may recall I did a mini series on the podcast a while ago looking at the evolution of blank verse, unrhymed iambic pentameter, from Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare's dramatic verse, then Milton's Paradise Lost and finally Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey. ‘Dover Beach' is rhymed, so it's not blank verse, but most of the techniques Arnold uses here are familiar from those other poets, with variations on the basic rhythm, sometimes switching the beats around, and using enjambment and caesura (a break or pause in the middle of the line). But, and – this is quite a big but – not every line has five beats. The lines get longer and shorter in an irregular pattern, apparently according to Arnold's instinct. And this is pretty unusual, certainly for 1851. It's not unique, we could point to bits of Tennyson or Arthur Hugh Clough for metrical experiments in a similar vein, but it's certainly not common practice. And I looked into this, to see what the critics have said about it. And it turns out the scholars are divided. In one camp, the critics say that what Arnold is doing is firmly in the iambic pentameter tradition – it's just one more variation on the pattern. But in the other camp are people who say, ‘No, this is something new; this is freer verse,' and it is anticipating free verse, the non-metrical poetry with no set line lengths that came to be the dominant verse form of the 20th century. Personally, I think you can look back to Wordsworth and see a continuity with his poetic practice. But you could equally look forward, to a link with T. S. Eliot's innovations in ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' and The Waste Land. Eliot is often described as an innovator in free verse, which is true up to a point, but a lot of his writing in that early period isn't strictly free verse; it's a kind of broken up metrical verse, where he often uses an iambic metre with long and short lines, which he varies with great intuitive skill – in a similar manner to Arnold's ‘Dover Beach'. Interestingly, when ‘Dover Beach' was first published, the reviews didn't really talk about the metre, which is ammunition for the people who say, ‘Well, this is just a kind of iambic pentameter'. Personally, I think what we have here is something like the well-known Duck-Rabbit illusion, where you can look at the same drawing and either see a duck or a rabbit, depending how you look at it. So from one angle, ‘Dover Beach' is clearly continuing the iambic pentameter tradition; from another angle, it anticipates the innovations of free verse. We can draw a line from the regular iambic pentameter of Wordsworth (writing at the turn of the 18th and 19th century) to the fractured iambic verse of Eliot at the start of the 20th century. ‘Dover Beach' is pretty well halfway between them, historically and poetically. And I don't think this is just a dry technical development. There is something going on here in terms of the poet's sense of order and disorder, faith and doubt. Wordsworth, in the regular unfolding of his blank verse, conveys his basic trust in an ordered and meaningful universe. Matthew Arnold is writing very explicitly about the breakup of faith, and we can start to see it in the breakup of the ordered iambic pentameter. By the time we get to the existential despair of Eliot's Waste Land, the meter is really falling apart, like the Waste Land Eliot describes. So overall, I think we can appreciate what a finely balanced poem Arnold has written. It's hard to categorise. You read it the first time and think, ‘Oh, right, another conventional Victorian melancholy lament'. But just when we think he's about to go overboard with the Sea of Faith, he surprises us and with that magnificent central passage. And just as he's about to give in to despair, we get that glimmering spark of love lighting up, and we think, ‘Well, maybe this is a romantic poem after all'. And maybe Arnold might look at me over his spectacles and patiently explain that actually, this is why that final metaphor of the clashing armies is exactly right. Friend and foe are running in first one direction, then another, inadvertently killing the people on the wrong side. So the simile gives us that sense of being caught in the cross-currents of a larger sweep of history. With all of that hovering in our mind, let's go over to the window once more and heed his call to listen to the sound of the Victorian sea at Dover Beach. Dover Beach By Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies fairUpon the straits; on the French coast the lightGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!Only, from the long line of sprayWhere the sea meets the moon-blanched land,Listen! you hear the grating roarOf pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,At their return, up the high strand,Begin, and cease, and then again begin,With tremulous cadence slow, and bringThe eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long agoHeard it on the Aegean, and it broughtInto his mind the turbid ebb and flowOf human misery; weFind also in the sound a thought,Hearing it by this distant northern sea. The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the full, and round earth's shoreLay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.But now I only hearIts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,Retreating, to the breathOf the night-wind, down the vast edges drearAnd naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another! for the world, which seemsTo lie before us like a land of dreams,So various, so beautiful, so new,Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;And we are here as on a darkling plainSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where ignorant armies clash by night. Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold was a British poet, critic, and public intellectual who was born in 1822 and died in 1888. His father was Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School. Arnold studied Classics at Oxford and first became known for lyrical, melancholic poems such as ‘Dover Beach', ‘The Scholar-Gipsy', and ‘Thyrsis', that explore the loss of faith in the modern world. Appointed an inspector of schools, he travelled widely and developed strong views on culture, education, and society. His critical essays, especially Culture and Anarchy, shaped debates about the role of culture in public life. Arnold remains a central figure bridging Romanticism and early modern thought. A Mouthful of Air – the podcast This is a transcript of an episode of A Mouthful of Air – a poetry podcast hosted by Mark McGuinness. New episodes are released every other Tuesday. You can hear every episode of the podcast via Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts or your favourite app. You can have a full transcript of every new episode sent to you via email. The music and soundscapes for the show are created by Javier Weyler. Sound production is by Breaking Waves and visual identity by Irene Hoffman. A Mouthful of Air is produced by The 21st Century Creative, with support from Arts Council England via a National Lottery Project Grant. Listen to the show You can listen and subscribe to A Mouthful of Air on all the main podcast platforms Related Episodes Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold Episode 87 Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold Mark McGuinness reads and discusses ‘Dover Beach' by Matthew Arnold.Poet Matthew ArnoldReading and commentary by Mark McGuinnessDover Beach By Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight.The tide is full, the moon lies... Recalling Brigid by Orna Ross Orna Ross reads and discusses ‘Recalling Brigid’ from Poet Town. 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Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was born into relative obscurity and died in mysterious circumstances at the age of 29. And yet, somehow this ambitious cobbler's son brought about a spectacular explosion of English literature, language, and culture. In this episode, Jacke talks to Stephen Greenblatt about his book Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival, which illuminates both Marlowe's times and the origins and significance of his work. PLUS author Eric Marshall White (Johannes Gutenberg: A Biography in Books) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read. Join Jacke on a trip through literary England (signup closing soon)! The History of Literature Podcast Tour is happening in May 2026! Act now to join Jacke and fellow literature fans on an eight-day journey through literary England in partnership with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Scheduled stops include The Charles Dickens Museum, Dr. Johnson's house, Jane Austen's Bath, Tolkien's Oxford, Shakespeare's Globe Theater, and more. Find out more by emailing jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or masahiko@johnshorstravel.com, or by contacting us through our website ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Or visit the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠History of Literature Podcast Tour itinerary⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠John Shors Travel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Help support the show at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/literature ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com/donate ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did William Shakespeare really write the greatest plays in the English language… or have we been sold a 400-year-old lie?For centuries, schools, universities, and institutions have defended the official story of a small-town actor with no higher education, no travel record, and barely any surviving documents — somehow becoming the most brilliant writer who ever lived.But the deeper you look, the stranger it gets.In today's episode, we dive into the Shakespeare authorship conspiracy — exploring why so many historians now question whether Shakespeare was the real author… and who the true writer might have been.We break down the three most compelling suspects:

From his possible espionage work for the Elizabethan state to his open flirtations with atheism and subversive sexual themes, the brief life of playwright Christopher Marlowe tells us much about the shadowy edges of 16th-century England. Stephen Greenblatt joins Elinor Evans to discuss the subversive, dangerous life of 'Kit', who became both a collaborator and rival of his contemporary, William Shakespeare. (Ad) Stephen Greenblatt is the author of Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival, Christopher Marlowe (Bodley Head, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Renaissance-Dangerous-Shakespeares-Christopher/dp/1847927130/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Conversamos de surgimiento de una nueva tercera cultureta "chupoptera", que encabeza Sergio del Molino en la fundacion March y que ha denominado 'Biblioteca del patio'. Carlos Alsina, Ruben Amon, Rosa Belmonte, Guillermo Altares, Sergio del Molino y Nacho Vigalondo analizan tambien 'El Renacimiento Oscuro', el libro del Premio Pulitzer Stephen Greenblatt sobre Christopher Marlowe, un dramaturgo y poeta ingles del periodo isabelino. Ademas, Nacho Vigalondo ha recomendado una serie que, esta vez si, se puede ver, 'Pluribus' de Vince Gilligan, el creador de 'Breaking Bad' y 'Better Call Saul'.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb engages in a captivating conversation with award-winning dramatist Liz Duffy Adams about the new Royal Shakespeare production of her play Born With Teeth, which imagines a thrilling collaboration between William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. Suzannah and Liz delve into the fiery dynamics of the two men's relationship and the influence of politics on their works.Shakespeare and Marlowe existed under a time of oppressive royal censorship, when displeasing the crown would mean a trip to the Tower, or worse. How did they balance this struggle for truth and creativity amid the palpable danger?Extracts from Born With Teeth by Liz Duffy Adams, performed by Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel, courtesy of Royal Shakespeare CompanyMORE:Murder of Christopher MarloweShakespeare's Son Hamnet with Maggie O'FarrellPresented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle. Edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcastSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe is known as Shakespeare's greatest rival. But in his new book Dark Renaissance, historian Stephen Greenblatt makes the case that Marlowe paved the way for Shakespeare. In today's episode, Greenblatt joins NPR's Ari Shapiro for a conversation about what made Marlowe a “lost soul,” how the playwright navigated a world of intense censorship, and evidence that points to his role as a spy.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were both born in 1564, rising from working-class origins finding success in the new world of the theater. But before Shakespeare transformed English drama, Marlowe had already done so—with Tamburlaine the Great and the introduction of blank verse to the stage. As Stephen Greenblatt argues in his new biography, Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival, virtually everything in the Elizabethan theater can be seen as “pre- and post-Tamburlaine.” Shakespeare learned from Marlowe, borrowed from him, and even tried to outdo him. Beyond his theatrical innovation, Marlowe was a poet, provocateur, and likely spy whose turbulent life was cut tragically short. In this episode, Greenblatt explores Marlowe's audacious works, his entanglements with power and secrecy, and his lasting influence on Shakespeare and the stage. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published September 23, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc. Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He has written extensively on English Renaissance literature and acts as general editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and The Norton Shakespeare. He is the author of fourteen books, including The Swerve, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and Will in the World, a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Who stabbed the famed playwright? And who planned it? We're stepping out of the sun and into the shadows on Not Just the Tudors, as Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates Tudor True Crime; a selection of history's most notorious murders and murderers.Today Suzannah is joined by Charles Nicholl to dig deeper into the mystery of the 1593 murder of the brilliant and controversial playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was stabbed to death in a house in Deptford. The official account stated it was a violent quarrel over the bill. But as Charles Nicholl explains, critical evidence about that fatal day points to Marlowe's shadowy political and espionage dealings.MORE:Dr Faustus: Pacts with the Devil >Mysterious Murder of Juan Borgia >Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. Edited and produced by Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcastSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.